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Hox genes in a pentameral animal
Author(s) -
Popodi Ellen,
Raff Rudolf A.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
bioessays
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.175
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1521-1878
pISSN - 0265-9247
DOI - 10.1002/1521-1878(200103)23:3<211::aid-bies1030>3.0.co;2-6
Subject(s) - body plan , hox gene , phylum , extant taxon , biology , evolutionary biology , bilateria , zoology , gene , phylogenetics , genetics , gene expression
There is renewed interest in how the different body plans of extant phyla are related. This question has traditionally been addressed by comparisons between vertebrates and Drosophila . Fortunately, there is now increasing emphasis on animals representing other phyla. Pentamerally symmetric echinoderms are a bilaterian metazoan phylum whose members exhibit secondarily derived radial symmetry. Precisely how their radially symmetric body plan originated from a bilaterally symmetric ancestor is unkown, however, two recent papers address this subject. Peterson et al.(1) propose a hypothesis on evolution of the anteroposterior axis in echinoderms, and Arenas‐Mena et al.(2) examine expression of five posterior Hox genes during development of the adult sea urchin. BioEssays 23:211–214, 2001. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.